a gift of the french republic to america
america stands for democracy
liberty and equality
statue of liberty the most famous statue in the wo
If Patience is a Virtue ----- LIBERTY is...
By coffeechat
@coffeechat (1961)
New Zealand
3 responses
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
11 Jul 10
Hello cdparazo, i agree with you fully, but i accept this more as a symbol of friendship, probably this is the reason i have many american friends..
Professor
@limitup (324)
• United States
19 Mar 07
I read an interesting thing about the Statue of Liberty. It is widely known that the French gave the United States the Statue of Liberty as a gift; however, many may not realize that the Americans didn't even really want the gift.
If memory serves correctly, the French paid for the building and the shipping of the Statue of Liberty and all the Americans had to pay for was the base of the structue, which was relatively cheap in price in comparison.
But New Yorkers didn't really want to pay for it. They tried to receive donations for it, but we didn't want to pay for an artsy (and arguably ugly) statue. We wanted to spend on our money on enterprise instead.
Eventually of course, I think out of embarrassment, something was passed to fund the completion of its base. I find it a funny illustration of our (American) values as compared to the French. Americans respect growth and enterprise and freedom. French like statues and gifts (though Americans are the most generous in the charity arena as well).
Anyway, I like the Statue of Liberty. I might change the inscription however to something like "Give us your ambitious, your productive, your workers. We'll take the poor as well, but we don't want your lazy."
@limitup (324)
• United States
19 Mar 07
Hmm, the last sentence came out wrong. I think it better: "We'll take your poor, but we don't want your lazy."
My first post almost made it seem that I think most poor people lazy, which I do not believe at all.
In my opinion, America is currently still the best place for the poor, the smart, the ambitious, and the risk-takers to thrive. We certainly want people like that.
@limitup (324)
• United States
21 Mar 07
I like that quote. I agree with you. I take that as a compliment.
I also appreciate the gesture of the French. As you point out, America was a very young country at the time (and still young to this day). While I do not agree with many broad economic policies of France, I visited once and found them to be courteous and respectful people.
Benjamin Franklin is a man I will try to learn more about. From what little I've read and heard about him, he was incredibly ambitious and was an entrepreneur as well.
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